Review: Mexican restaurant makes todo from scratch; lets you add any meat to common dishes
It is a bold promise to include the word “authentic” in the name of your restaurant, so you had better deliver.
At Del Rio Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Port St. Lucie, all the dishes and desserts — plus the embellishments, including the sauces, guacamole, chips and tortillas — are made from scratch in the open, sparkling, stainless kitchen that pulsates with activity and aromas.
The décor is simple. Wooden tables and chairs are equipped with essential napkin dispensers. The walls are adorned with mirrors and colorful prints of Mexican food. Banners are strung across the ceiling and punctuated with honeycombed green men sporting mustaches and sombreros.
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The menu has all of the usual suspects: tacos, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, flautas, tostadas, fajitas and platters that include carne and pollo asada, camarones a la Diablo, molcajete, menudo, soups and salads. The difference is you can order many of these dishes with a choice of steak, chicken, al pastor (pork with pineapple), chorizo, carnitas, barbacoa, or beef tongue.
My husband and I started with nachos Del Rio ($13.95). The house-made crispy chips were piled with tasty strips of chicken, refried pinto beans, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, white cheese and sour cream. We put the tangy and creamy guacamole on the side because hubby thinks he doesn’t like avocados. This dish was all I needed. The chicken was full of flavors of chili, cumin, oregano and other magical ingredients.
The Mister ordered chicken chimichanga ($17.95). This is his favorite Mexican dish, but Del Rio’s was different. Instead of shredded chicken, a marinated flavorful chicken breast was wrapped in a tortilla shell and deep-fried to a golden crisp. My husband could not stop talking about the amazingly delicious peppery tomato sauce and the moist chicken.
I had a difficult time choosing, so I ordered both the burrito with carnitas ($9.95) and the taco with barbacoa ($4). I cannot say which one I liked best. My favorite pork dish is braised, slow-cooked, shredded and fried with a bit of a crust, so I enjoyed both the flavors and the texture of the carnitas. The tortilla was stuffed with pork, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream, then baked to a golden brown.
Barbacoa is a style of slow-cooking in an oven or over a grill, which tenderizes the meat and imparts flavors throughout. I felt the meat would benefit from a little moisture, so I drizzled some of my husband’s spicy sauce on top and it exploded with flavors.
Our waitress, Daniela, was helpful and delightful. She was taking the orders, delivering the drinks, and running the food — all with a big smile and attention to her guests.
I am certainly not an expert on Mexican cuisine, although I love to eat it. So it is up to those who have grown up on abuela’s home-cooked Mexican dishes to verify the authenticity. But Del Rio Authentic Mexican Restaurant’s food has the validity, the quality, the flavor and the characteristics of the real deal.
Del Rio Authentic Mexican Restaurant
Cuisine: Mexican
Address: 1291 S.W. Del Rio Blvd., Port St. Lucie
Phone: 772-268-8850
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday-Sunday
Alcohol: Beer and wine
Lucie Regensdorf dines anonymously at the expense of TCPalm. Contact her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Restaurant review: Del Rio Authentic Mexican Restaurant, Port St. Lucie
